


Err:Ladybug.Exe

by Texas_Variety_Katie_Bug



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Eventual Romance, F/M, Robot Feels, Robot/Human Relationships, Romance, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-21 21:52:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13749936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Texas_Variety_Katie_Bug/pseuds/Texas_Variety_Katie_Bug
Summary: Chat Noir, famous superhero. Adrien Agreste, famous inventor and model. Being all this is quite time consuming, so he created something to help him out, a robot named Marinette. Problem Number One: She doesn't know she's a robot. Problem Number Two: She's in love with him. Problem Number Three: He's pretty sure he's in love with her, too.





	1. Adrien Builds a Robot

**Author's Note:**

> This is cross-posted on fanfiction where it is completed. More info for that at the bottom.

If someone were to use the word eccentric to describe Adrien Agreste they would be spot on, though only a select few knew of his more erratic hobbies and tendencies. Everyone knew the public face, golden boy model, son of Gabriel Agreste, the most celebrated designer in Paris. It was common knowledge he was a prodigy in the sciences, creating robots and software that were quickly bought by companies like Apple and Google. Reporters would talk to him, ask him how he became interested in robotics, wondering what sparked interest in the prodigy. He was polite, mild mannered and quiet in front of the cameras, answering all their questions with the same laissez faire attitude he was taught growing up, save one. “What do you think of the superhero Chat Noir?”

If one looked close they could see the small fire in his eyes, and the small smirk before he spoke. “Chat Noir? I don’t think it’s my right to have an opinion on someone like him. I know nothing about him.” After interviews he would retreat and head back to his workshop. On the surface it was clean, state of the art. Computers and monitors stood shining, connected to microscopes, spreadsheets, folders and internet browsers opened displaying various signs of research. Half finished prototypes stood guard on worktables. Tools lined the walls neatly, shining. His eccentricities weren’t apparent, unless someone happened to place a Phillips-head screw driver into a small knot on the wall, hidden behind a large circular saw. Then they could see the stairs go down into the real workshop, descending into madness like Alice down the rabbit hole. Adrien smiled every time he did so. This was where his real work lived. 

“What do you mean you don’t have the right to have an opinion of someone like Chat Noir?” As soon as Adrien entered his workshop he was bombarded by questions from a robot he had created to help him when he was Chat Noir, an artificially intelligent robot with a design somewhere between a cat and a fairy. He called this little robot Plagg. 

“So you saw the news today?”

“Of course I did! What else do you think I do when you leave? I get bored.” Maybe a little too artificially intelligent. “Nino stopped by, by the way. He was asking how the project was going.”

“Call him and tell him to come down to the workshop.” Adrien put on a pair of protective glasses as he spoke, gathering up the few tools he needed. “Do the same for Alya and Chloe while you’re at it. They’re going to want to see this.” 

“Adriennnnnn, why don’t we go do something fun for a change? You can show me off the the world. You’ve always said I was your greatest creation. You even made four more of me.”

Adrien rolled his eyes at the little bot. How did the little thing have such a big ego? “I believe I said the kwami were my greatest creation. You’re probably at the bottom of the list.” 

“You know you like me. You gave the others away.”

“To Nino, Alya and Chloe. I’m just glad I designed more agreeable personalities for them.” 

Plagg went over and looked at the project, looking over the different measurements and pressure points. “There’s a screw loose in the joint over here.” 

“Thank you, Plagg.” Adrien picked up a flathead screwdriver and made his way to the bot, repairing the joint. 

“You’re welcome. I helped. Now can we go do something?” 

“Why don’t you call the others like I asked you too?” He loved Plagg more than he’d care to admit, but the robot had a personality that ceased with his own at times. He designed Plagg to have more opposites than similarities to himself with the intent of bringing out the best sides in one another. He carefully avoided this with the kwami he designed for the others.

“I sent them a text while you were telling me I was the best. Now let’s get out of here before they get here.” The robot hovered above his head and looked the new project over once again. “Once that joint is finished it just needs to be turned on. You out did yourself again, you’re the most talented inventor in the world, you could win a Nobel Prize for this, yada yada, blah blah blah.” 

“Why don’t you go download the last few programs on Tikki? It should be the red USB. It’ll keep you busy for another two hours or so.” Plagg let out an annoyed huff and did as Adrien told him. Why did his inventor have to be such a boring stick in the mud?

“There, finished.” The joint was finished and the hole he had created to fix the screw was repaired. The kwami had been his greatest invention, but this would surpass them, easily. 

The sound of the door upstairs opening followed by three sets of footsteps pulled Adrien away from his thoughts. They were here. “Adrien, bro! You finished your thing?” A hand was placed on his shoulder and Adrien noticed Nino looking at him with a smile. Behind him stood Alya, cellphone in hand, ready to record, Chloe, arms crossed, looking at the workshop with a soft glare. The three of them were the only ones who knew he was Chat Noir. 

Nino was Adrien’s best friend. They met in a robotics class in high school and the two of them hit it off. He was the only other person in the world who knew how the kwami were made, how the Chat Noir suit worked, allowing Adrien to perform crazy stunts, and how to repair any of it. Adrien had officially met Alya when Nino started dating her, but he’d seen her around before at press conference events. She was the reporter who had gotten closest to revealing Chat’s identity, so Adrien used her skills to his advantage, revealing himself to her requesting she keep the public away from him. Chloe was his benefactor and oldest friend. She provided the money it took to be Chat Noir since the money he received from his own inventions and software had to go towards creating more inventions and software. She was an up and coming politician and one of Chat’s biggest public supporters. “So, what is this new invention?” Chloe asked, cutting right to the chase. She wanted to see where her money was going. 

Adrien smiled. “Right this way,” he lead them to the corner where a large stand stood, covered by a pristine white sheet. “So, you all know I’ve been a superhero for a while and it’s been fun, but it’s a bit hard to be the only one Paris can count on, so,” he pulled back the sheet and the three of them looked like a bucket of cold water had been poured over them. She looked real, the girl. Not in the creepy robotic way, where there was something just not right, like with dolls. She looked just like a real person. Her chest moved up and down slightly, imitating breathing. A few light freckles dusted her face. Black hair fell onto her shoulders, held in two pigtails. She looked like someone who was sleeping, whisked away in pleasant dreams. “This is Marinette, or, when she is with me, Ladybug.” 

“Oh my gosh, Adrien that is amazing! How on earth did you make her? She looks so real!” Alya had her phone and was taking all sorts of pictures of the girl, looking her over like Plagg was just moments ago. 

“I’ve spent the last three years building her, a year and a half in design. The programming for her personality took eight months on its own.” He glanced over at the little black robot who still was meddling with the USB drive for Tikki. “One of the reasons I created Plagg and the other kwami was to practice implementing personalities into robots.” He gave himself a small smile. “I wager it was a success.” 

“So, how do you turn her on?” Chloe asked, Nino giving a small snort, which caused Alya to promptly punch him in the arm, causing Nino to let out a small cry of protest. 

Adrien chose to ignore the exchange and smiled, “Watch this,” he said as he walked over to the bot. “Marinette, it’s time to wake up.”

The girl stretched, letting out a small groan, “No, just, five more minutes, please.”

“Dude, that is amazing!” Nino’s excitement filled the room and everyone let out cheers of excitement. 

“W-what’s going on? Why’s everyone so excited?” The robot finally opened her eyes, sleepy for a moment, then suddenly wide awake. “W-who are you?” She looked around, trying to get a sense of her surroundings. “Where am I?”

Adrien walked over to Marinette, a smile on his face. “Don’t worry. This is my workshop. We brought you here after you hit your head, don’t you remember? It’s me, Adrien. That’s Nino, Alya and Chloe. We’re your friends.” 

Marinette shook her head. “I-I don’t remember anything.” 

He offered her a kind smile. “Why don’t you go look around at everything?That might spark some memories. The doctor said you might have amnesia.” He said all this knowing full well none of this was true. Marinette nodded and looked around the workshop, looking at the various blueprints and designs. Adrien turned to the three and spoke quietly. “There’s one last thing you guys need to know. Marinette doesn’t know she’s a robot.”


	2. The Old Man

Marinette rubbed her hands together as she looked at the meal in front of her, licking her lips in anticipation as a bowl of chicken carbonara was placed in front of her. “Thanks for dinner, Adrien!” She took a bite of the pasta, savoring the taste of the meal. “I seriously need to pay you back one of these days. You’re always cooking for me. It’s too nice,” she took another bite, relishing the flavor on her tongue. 

“It’s not a problem, Marinette. I’ll cook and feed us, you do the dishes and we’re even!” There was something about Adrien that was, for lack of a better word, strange. Every day since she started to live with him two years ago he had been the one to provide for her. She kept insisting she should cook for the two of them one of these days, but it was always a hard pass on his part. 

“Chaton, are you afraid of my cooking?” She gave him a teasing smile as she looked at him in an attempt to cover her own insecurities. What if he really was afraid of her cooking? Had she accidentally poisoned him before she lost her memories? She examined his face in an attempt to make sense of everything. His features were absolutely perfect, as if they were carved out by angels or Michaelangelo. His hair was a perfect golden color, like bottled sunshine, and emerald eyes that would make the most beautiful of gemstones weep at their gloriousness. His smile always cute, half turned, that made her weak at the knees. He was kind to her as well, telling her about how she hit her head when she was escaping her home when it caught on fire, taking her in after her parents went to live in China with her relatives. She wondered why they hadn’t contacted her. She couldn’t miss them... she didn’t remember them, but it was strange to her that they would make no effort. If she was starting to feel sad about them he would always lend her a supporting hand. “Adrien, can I please do something to help? I don’t want to be a freeloader!”

The look he gave her was tender, full of many different emotions. “Marinette, you are a lot of things but trust me when I say you are not a freeloader.” He took a bite of his meal and she was captivated, watching him chew every bite as he savored the flavor of his creation. “You help me in the shop and the house then go turn around and do amazing things as Ladybug.”

“Only because you let me become her.” Days after she moved in Adrien gave her a pair of earrings and the ability to be a superhero with the use of some of his most high-tech gadgets, like a yo-yo which she could use to ensnare burglars and muggers. Her suit deflected bullets from the mafia and petty criminals. Some gadget placed in the arms allowed her to lift large objects just like they were paper. He gave her Tikki, a robot who helped her out regularly, giving her updates on the news, what the police needed assistance with, etc. He had dome so much for her. “I’m seriously asking. What can I do to repay you?”

When his eyes met hers she swore she melted for a moment. “Stay here. You’ve done so much to help. I, frankly, can’t imagine this house without you anymore. It’s not home without you here.”

She must have been hearing things. Did he just tell her that all he wanted was for her to stay? She had to call Alya later and tell her about this new development. She wanted to stay with Adrien, to be by his side as long as he needed her to. “Well, you didn’t need to ask for that to happen. I will always be here.” 

He was lonely. She could tell by the way he looked wistfully at the happy families, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, walking their children around Paris, holding hands and eating ice cream. She knew he grew up without his mother, and his father was aloof, uncaring and overbearing all at once. He had snuck into a school one day, enrolling with the help of his father’s assistant, going to school and discovering his love for robotics, meeting Nino, the first real friend he had. She wished she could have been there for him at the time. When she tried to think of her own school experience images of a generic life passed through her mind. She couldn’t recall any friends, laughing down the halls, meeting up for coffee dates before school... it was like her high school was just for learning, so socialization whatsoever. She couldn’t find herself missing the memories, but she felt lonely too. Maybe he could sense her feelings. He gave her a pat on the head as he got up and finished his meal, his fingers lingering in her dark strands sending an involuntary shiver down her spine. He took Marinette’s finished dish to the kitchen with him, clearing their plates together. She didn’t remember eating it all, but she hardly remembered eating in the first place. The activity didn’t bring her much joy. “I-I can get those,” she said, suddenly remembering that she was in charge of washing the dishes. 

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll put them in the sink for you. Just wash them up when you feel like it.” He gave her another one of his crooked smiles. “I’ve got some work to do, as well as a couple of errands I need to run. Call me if you need anything.”

“Alright,” she replied, watching him as he disappeared again. She wondered what he could be working on that needed so many errands. There was nothing pressing in his workshop. She let out a sigh and got up from the table, deciding thats the dishes would provide a nice distraction from her wandering thoughts, but the task occupied her mind for no more than five minutes, providing her little relief. She wandered aimlessly around the house, looking for something to do, eventually deciding to turn on the television and watch one of Adrien’s favorite animes. Again. “I’d be happy to help him, he knows that.” She leaned back, attempting to make herself more comfortable in the seat, “Stubborn man.” 

She was three episodes into Fullmetal Alchemist when Tikki wandered her way into the room, fluttering aimlessly before sitting on Marinette’s shoulder. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing. I’d kill to get rid of this boredom right now.”

The little robot gave a small smile. Marinette liked Tikki. She had personality, a life of her own. It amazed Marinette how a little robot could have so much life. It was almost like she was real. As far as Marinette was concerned, she was. “Want to go out on patrol?” Tikki asked, her eyes shimmering, only a little bit of help coming from the LED lights that made up her gaze. 

The corners of Marinette’s mouth turned upwards and she gave a small giggle. “That could be fun. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Tikki nodded. “Yeah! I’ll text Adrien and tell him what we’re doing.” The robot closed her eyes and her antennae glowed pink for a moment before returning to their normal red color. “Done! Let’s go!”

“Tikki, spots on!” the robot complied and wrapped herself around Marinette, transforming into the Ladybug suit. Marinette, frankly, had no idea how the transformation worked but she knew it was genius on Adrien’s part for designing something like Tikki and Plagg. The Kwami-Bots were incredible. 

A moment later Ladybug made her escape through a window, jumping across rooftops, enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair. People walking through the streets waved at the superhero giving her excited glances as she passed by. She smiled at each of them as she made her way through the city. “Give me your money!” 

Ladybug’s ears picked up on the sound of a gun clicking a few blocks over and the smile suddenly disappeared from her face. It was time to stop messing around and time to be a hero. When she got there she saw a young woman dressed completely in black, brown hair peeking out from underneath a black beanie. She pointed a gun at a small man wearing a red Hawaiian shirt with a calm expression on his face. “Young lady, do you need any help?”

“Sh-shut up. Just give me the money and we’ll both walk away from here.”

The man shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t have any on me. If you come back to my house I can help you.”

“Cut the crap. You’ll just call the police.” She looked him over, her eyes settling on a thin gold chain around his neck. “Give me that necklace.”

Ladybug chose that moment to drop behind the young mugger. “Threatening others seems like something only a coward would do.”

The girl whipped around quickly, letting out a round as she did so, hitting Ladybug in the stomach, bright yellow paint spreading across her torso. “Paintball gun?” So the girl wasn’t planning on killing the man if she didn’t get her way. The gun was a scare tactic, but the man didn’t fall for it. The young woman looked terrified, though. 

“I-I’m sorry! Ladybug, please don’t hurt me. I-I need money. I got fired from my job and haven’t had a meal in two days. I’m just trying to get money for food.” 

“That doesn’t mean you can just go after people.” Ladybug gave the girl a look over. She didn’t seem like a horrible person, especially with the tears pricking in the corners of her blue eyes. She couldn’t let this slide though. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to call the police. You threatened someone.”

The girl hung her head in defeat, sinking to her knees. “Thank you for saving me, Ladybug,” she turned her attention to the voice behind her, looking down at the old man who had a kind smile on his face, “but I don’t think calling the police will be necessary.” He looked at the girl who was sobbing on the ground. “Hunger makes us drastic. Why don’t you come with me. I’ll feed you and you can work for me, young lady. I’ve been meaning to hire someone to work the front desk at my shop.”

The girl’s sobs started shaking her whole body. “Th-thank you. Thank you s-so much, sir.”

The man helped the girl to her feet and smiled at Ladybug. “I hope to see you soon, Ladybug.”

She nodded and watched the pair disappear into the Parisian nighttime before deciding it would be okay for her to return home. Tikki was going to need to charge up before too long. Ladybug had been out for about four hours. 

Adrien was sitting in a chair when Ladybug returned, dropping her transformation and becoming Marinette again. “How was your patrol?”

She gave a shrug and a small smile. “It was good.” Marinette remembered the old man and was glad there were people like him in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all so much for your kind words! I'm really glad y'all are enjoying this! Revisiting this story is a lot more fun than I thought it would be and just getting to see the characters interact in this AU again is a lot of fun. The story will have the same number of chapters as the original story but I'm planning on adding more details and making some rushed writings better. This chapter was one of the ones I didn't have to workshop as much, so there's not a lot of differences between this chapter and the original. I just made a few sentences flow better and gave Tikki more LEDs. I'll be sure to mention when there are drastic changes made. Thanks again so much for all y'alls support! It really means a lot.


	3. To Love a Robot

Adrien licked his lips as he took in the view in front of him, his breathing slow becoming more and more erratic. Her black hair was loose, falling down around her shoulders, a blush spreading across her cheeks making her light freckles the slightest bit more prominent. Her eyes blinked slowly, sultry, telling him to take her. He watches as her teeth ran over bottom lip, grazing them lightly, drawing attention to the soft, pink flesh. She stood there, in the doorway, clad in nothing but lacy red and black undergarments, her arms crossed around her torso, hugging herself tightly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Adrien could feel his breath get caught in his throat as he looked at her, drinking in everything her saw. “Well, say something.” He could hear the nerves in her voice as she spoke. He smiled gently, reassuring her. 

“You’re beautiful.” He said as he made his way out of his bed. Each step was slow, and confident. He shortened the distance between the two of them, dragging on the moments. “You’re absolutely perfect, Marinette.” 

“A-Adrien I-”

He shook his head, placing his pointer finger over her lips, effectively silencing her. “Let’s enjoy this.” He bent his head down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, growing hungrier and hungrier for her with each pleasantry he indulged in. He brought his hands to her waist, pulling her close, enjoying much more than just her company. There was one thing repeating in his head as he kissed her. “I love you, Marinette.”

She pulled back from him and he was shocked by what he saw. Her skin had disappeared, hair and other human features had vanished, leaving just a robotic frame in her place. A robotic frame with big, beautiful blue eyes. “Even if I look like this?”

His eyes opened suddenly and Adrien found himself hunched over, asleep on his desk in his secret lab. “Just a dream,” he spoke quietly, “or nightmare.” He sat up and rolled back his shoulders in an attempt to get rid of the stiffness that had formed from sleeping in the awkward position. It wasn’t the first time he fell asleep here and he doubted it would be the last. He looked over the blueprints he had been working on, a new kwami that would be able to give various people enhanced skills through the use of robotic butterflies he called akuma. The akuma could be used on police officers or firemen, allowing them to help the public more and get people out of danger efficiently and safely. “Plagg, can you come scan these prints? See if there’s anything I missed in the development.”

The kwami poked his head out from behind a computer hard drive and looked at his creator. “You’re kidding me, right? You’ve got this kwami thing mastered by now. You don’t need me to look at it.”

“Please, Plagg? Better safe than sorry.”

Plagg let out a groan and made his way over, quickly scanning the blueprints over, checking for errors and inconsistencies. “You’re good, just like I said you’d be. Can I get back to what I was doing now?”

Adrien eyed the kwami suspiciously, realizing he’d appeared from behind the computer. “What were you doing?” 

“Not telling!” Plagg crossed his arms indignantly turning away from Adrien and returning to his spot, plugging himself into the computer with one of his whiskers. 

“You do realize I can just look up what you’re doing, right?”

If Plagg had been able to turn red he would have. Instead he just continued to shake his head. “You wouldn’t dare.”

It was too late. Adrien had pulled out his phone and was looking up the kwami’s activities. “Why are you pirating Fifty Shades of Grey?” 

The download finished and Plagg flew off somewhere where Adrien couldn’t reach him, rolling his eyes at his mischievous, and apparently slightly perverted, little bot. Adrien then realized he wasn’t any better after the dream he had about Marinette last night. He banged his head on the table upon the realization he had a sexual dream about one of his creations. The dreadful feeling only grew when he realized he wasn’t ashamed of the dream, just confused. He was just glad that the dream had been about Marinette and not some other robot he knew. He glanced at Plagg, then rubbed his temples. He needed some fresh air. “Hey, Plagg, I’m going out. I need to clear my head.” The robot appeared from behind a different hard drive and made his way over to Adrien. 

“Do we have to go?”

“You have to come with me in case of an emergency, but you’re not going to have to do anything. You can continue to sit on your lazy butt as long as we’re out.”

“Great!” The kwami flew into Adrien’s jacket pocket and Adrien pulled out his phone, sending an SOS to Nino, asking him to meet him at the usual place. 

The usual place turned out to be an arcade the two frequented in high school. It was here Nino had made the offhanded comment about how fun it would be to be a superhero and Adrien came up with the idea of Chat Noir for the first time, back when the idea he had for his superhero persona was essentially Anime-Man with the power to knock off different anime character’s abilities. He was glad he abandoned that idea in a hurry. Much purrferring his cat themed creation. The idea for the superhero came from Alya, who won a black cat in the claw machine in the arcade, giving it to Adrien since she had won a plethora of other stuffed creatures from the game already. She was really good at the game by some bizarre miracle. 

Adrien beat Nino to the arcade and ordered a pizza, well, two pizza’s. Nino liked his pizza with everything on it imaginable and Adrien preferred just cheese. He sat down at one of the corner booths and rubbed his temples in little circles trying to figure how to manage this latest fiasco. “Hey, dude!” Nino joined Adrien at the booth and took a slice of pizza. “So, what’s the SOS?”

Adrien took one of his slices and took a bite, trying to figure out the best way to tell Nino about his dream without sounding like a compete freak. “I- uh,” he rolled his shoulders back, popping the vertebrae in his back, piecing together his thoughts. “Have you ever had… sexual-is dreams about Alya?”

“Yeah. Duh. Why?”

“I had a dream about a girl last night.”

Nino looked at Adrien skeptically. The years he’s known his friend he has never shown romantic interest in anyone. The closest thing he had to a romantic relationship was his robots and- there it was. “Was this girl made of metal?” Nino took Adrien’s silence as his answer. “Marinette?”

“I’m insane, aren’t I, Nino?” 

“Well, you’re such a gear head it makes sense that you would end up falling for one of your creations. Frankly I’m glad your subconscious chose to fixate on Mari and not Plagg.” That was something that came as a relief to them both, but caused Plagg to kick Adrien through the jacket, causing the latter to let out a startled screech. Nino looked at his friend questioningly, then chose to ignore the outburst. He friend was going insane and he just had to accept that fact. “Adrien, I think you need to get out more. You spend all your time working, either modeling or in the lab, and when you’re not doing that you’re out playing superhero. You need to get your head out of the toolbox and come explore the real world.” Nino noticed the disappointed expression on Adrien’s face, but now was the time for tough love. “Marinette is great, but she’s not human, Adrien. Wether she knows it or not. What kind of future could you have with her? You can’t fall in love with her.”

His first reaction was to deny Nino’s claims, that he was in love with Marinette, but when he opened his mouth to do so no words came out. It felt like he was betraying his lady, and Nino noticed this, raising an eyebrow at Adrien. “Okay, I might have feelings for her,” he said, “but she doesn’t know what she is. She thinks she’s as human as you or me. It’s not fair for me to tell her now just because I’ve developed feelings for her.”

“Just be careful, dude. Don’t lose your head.” 

After a couple hours of playing games and gorging themselves on pizza, Adrien finally returned home, greeting Marinette as he walked in, trying to ignore the flutter of his heart as he did so. He went down the stairs, into the laboratory, grabbed a screwdriver, and opened the secret entrance. He needed time to think about Nino’s words.

He stopped in his tracks, his jaw dropping at the sight in front of him.

His lab had been ransacked and the blueprints for his newest kwami and the akuma were missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember this being one of my favorite chapters to write. Marinette didn't make a physical appearance but getting to explore Adrien's feelings for her was a lot of fun! I hope y'all enjoy it! One of the edits I'm making with this story is I'm taking out any language said by the characters. There was some language in the original story but looking back it doesn't really add to the story and the characters aren't really the type to use language, in my opinion, so that's one of the edits I'm going to mention here!


	4. Birth of a Monster

The day had started out seemingly normal. Ladybug and Chat Noir had seen no action recently. A calm sense settled over the city, causing the people of Paris to celebrate the recent decrease in criminal activity. Marinette was happy with the recent development, but a touch bored, spending her free time sketching clothing designs to distract her mind. Adrien’s mind was much more active (not that Marinette would know this,) searching for the missing blueprints, looking for any sign that a new kwami had been built, keeping an eye out for the akuma. Adrien hated the decrease in criminal activity. It was like the calm before the storm, causing him to surge into dark thoughts, dreading how his designs could be used when placed in the wrong hands. 

While he was modeling he was distracted. The photographer had a difficult time getting the model to focus on the task at hand. While he was working on prototypes for large companies he made mistakes that Nino pointed out to him, mistakes that he hadn’t made since he was in high school. His mind truly was somewhere else. 

Marinette picked up on these uneasy feelings but whenever she confronted Adrien he just gave her a smile and a shrug, telling her to not worry, it was out of her control. She knew he had a secret lab he went to, one he didn’t tell her about, and she badly wanted to follow him, but there was something that stopped her every time. A feeling of dread would wash over her and she’d turn away.

It had been three months since Adrien’s plans had gone missing and the feeling of dread only grew, rightfully so. Three miles away there was someone smiling to themselves, putting the finishing touches on their robotic masterpiece, or rather, the robotic masterpiece they stole. 

The man had picked out his subject two months ago, in the middle of the building process. He was a large man, a firefighter who had a wife and an infant son back at home. Recently his wife had been laid off from her job for missing too many days of work after their son got gravely ill. The son recovered but their bank account took a hit. People in the community and friends had sent in donations for the young boy’s life saving treatment, but it wasn’t enough. The man had to take on more hours at the firehouse and put himself in more life-threatening situations, worrying his wife. The man’s name was Ivan and he would do anything for his family. That’s why when the man came to Ivan, offering him hundreds of thousands of dollars to take part in an experiment that would increase his strength and stamina tenfold. Ivan accepted the offer immediately. 

At ten in the morning Ivan walked up to a large house, one so large it would be called a mansion, and knocked, praying all would go well today. He needed everything to go well. Mylene and Nolan depended on him. “Excuse me? I’m here to see,” he looked down at the name given to him on the paper, “I’m here to see Hawkmoth.”

Six thirty-four Adrien and Marinette were sitting down to dinner, eating tomato soup and gruyere melted over a toasted baguette when Plagg and Tikki barged into the room, both with grim looks on their faces. “There’s a man attacking Paris!” Tikki cried out, looking at the two of them in desperation. 

Adrien immediately looked over at Plagg, a grim nod was all he could give. “Looks like there’s a robotic butterfly implanted on the back of the man’s neck. It’s probably the source of the strength.” 

“Well, looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us! Thanks for the meal, Adrien.” Marinette hopped up from her seat, abandoning the bowl, going to change into her suit. Adrien looked at his own bowl, half empty, his heartbeat quickening. He had enjoyed a meal but the bowl Marinette had was completely empty, never filled in the first place. The chicken carbonara from months ago which she enjoyed, the pizza they ate on the couch, the tomato soup today, none of it really existed for her. That’s why he never let her cook. He shook his head. Why was he thinking about that now? He had work to do! He went to change into his Chat Noir suit, the vague, nauseous feeling never really leaving. 

Once changed they raced to the wreckage. The man was in a heavily populated tourist area just outside the Eiffel Tower. “Look, it’s Ladybug and Chat Noir!” a bystander shouted. People turned their attention to the superheroes, cheering that someone had finally come to save them. 

Ladybug looked over the scene, inspecting the damaged caused by the man. “This is insane! How did one man cause so much damage?”

The man didn’t look like a monster, just a larger than average man with larger than average muscles, wearing purple and black athletic wear, a black and purple butterfly mask covering his face. On the back of his neck was the little robotic butterfly giving him the source of his powers. From the blank look in his eyes it seemed like the man had no control of his actions. He was like a blank doll. A blank doll who was able to throw cars around. 

The pair looked the man over, trying to figure out how to defeat him, when they heard the sound of a woman screaming, yelling something at the man in desperation. “Listen to me! Please, Ivan! Stop this!” 

Ladybug rushed over to the woman, a young woman clutching an infant to her chest, trying to scream to the man through tears. “Do you know this man?” she asked gently, but hastily guiding her away from the danger.

The woman sniffed and nodded. “I- I- yes. He’s my husband. His name is Ivan Bruel. He wouldn’t hurt anyone, please believe me! I- I don’t know what’s happened to him but- but-” the tears started to fall down the woman’s face again. Chat Noir made his way to the pair and placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. 

“I think he’s being controlled. There’s a robot on the back of his neck that he wouldn’t have been able to put there himself. Chat Noir and I will get rid of the robot and he should be back to normal in no time.”

She looked up at the super duo afraid. “What’s going to happen to him? Will he go to jail?” She clutched her son closer to her chest, clinging to him in fear, “We need him. He can’t go to jail.”

Ladybug smiled at the woman. “None of this is his fault. We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” She looked around and pointed to a bakery not too far in the distance. “Go to that bakery and stay there until it’s safe to come out. We’ll get your husband back to you, I promise.” 

They watched the woman retreat and turned their attention back to the man- Ivan as they now knew his name. “So, M’Lady, what do you purrpose we do?”

“I say you get his attention and distract him and I’ll sneak up behind him and grab the robot off of him.”

Chat Noir smiled. “Sounds clawsome.” 

Ladybug resisted the urge to roll her eyes and darted off, leaving her partner to battle the man. “Come on you big meat head and catch me if you can!” she heard her partner taunt. The man let out a roar similar to that of the Hulk and chased after the black clad superhero. Ladybug perched on top of a car and waited for her opportunity to strike. She leapt behind them quickly, keeping up with them, until her heart nearly stopped. The man had cornered Chat Noir and was now going to pick up a car to throw at him. 

She didn’t hesitate. She ran to where Chat was and pushed him out of the way, getting him out of danger just as the man threw the car, pinning her arm down. “Ladybug!” Char screamed. Her eyes were closed, in preparation to feel pain, but instead she felt nothing, looking over, expecting to see blood and bone from where her arm was crushed, not metal and wires. 

“Wh-what?” 

The man took the opportunity to run away, presumably back to the man who had created the robot controlling him. Chat didn’t follow, though. He used his baton as leverage to pull the car up just enough for Ladybug to get her arm out. “Chat what- what’s going on?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the halfway point of the story! The chapters get a bit shorter from here on out, if I can remember correctly. I was overworking myself and my stories suffered because of it. That's why I'm going back and fixing them up now! Honestly, there were a lot of things that I was unhappy about with this chapter in particular, and while I was able to fix a lot of the issues, there are still some there that I don't have the ability to fix at the moment. Oh well. C'est la vie. Thank y'all so much for all the responses and kudos on this story. It really means a lot. At this point I'm working on two others stories, one that is being updated on fanfiction right now called Broken, and one that will be coming soon. I'll give y'all more info on that when I have more completed. Thanks so much!

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I'm starting to systematically review, edit, and update all my completed stories on fanfiction and putting the polished versions up on here. These stories are the better done ones as I'm looking back at them after leaving the story alone for months, as well as adding in things I've read in reviews on my stories. This story was originally published September 23, 2017 and is my first attempt at sci-fi ever. Honestly, it is not one of my better stories, but the plot is fun and I think it's a nice start to open up this little project of mine. This story could do with some good edits. I hope y'all enjoy!


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